Create an Herb-infused Oil in Five Easy Steps
/A simple salve is made of oil and wax, and is a lovely moisturizer on its own, but add some healing herbs to the mixture and you have a pain treatment, a sedating balm, or a rash-clearing ointment.
To create a healing salve, you first need to make an herb-infused oil to use in the recipe. Here’s how:
Step One: Choose an herb
Excellent herbs for infusing into oil to calm itchy, rashy skin include Calendula, Heal All (aka Self Heal), Lavender, Lemon Balm, Plantain, Roman Chamomile, and White Clover. For topical pain relief look to California Poppy, Catnip, Comfrey, Cramp Bark, Meadowsweet, St. John’s Wort, and Valerian. Valerian and Catnip also have sedating properties.
Fresh Calendula flowers
Step Two: Harvest fresh or use dried herbs
An herb-infused oil will keep longer if made with dried herb, but fresh herbs extract the most medicine. Introducing moisture from fresh plants will increase the risk of spoilage, however, so dried herbs are generally used for oils. Milky oat seed, St. John’s wort, and motherwort are nearly useless when dried and should always be used fresh.
Calendula flowers on a hydrator rack
You can dry herbs yourself, or purchase dried herbs. See the purchasing information at the end of this article if you are looking to buy dried herbs.
The equipment you will need includes two jars, a strainer, a measuring cup, and a square of muslin or coffee filter. In addition, if using dried herbs to make your infused oil, you will need a grinder (a food processor or blender will work), kitchen scale, and 100- to 190-proof vodka.
Step Three: Infuse the herb into the oil
Maceration method for fresh herbs:
Loosely fill a jar with fresh herb and cover with the oil of your choice (see the carrier oil descriptions at the end of the article).
Label the jar with the herb and the date.
Put the jar on a shelf for two weeks, shaking the jar or stirring it daily. You can put a cheesecloth lid on the jar to allow moisture to escape, just be sure to stir it every day.
Weighing dried herb on a scale
Alcohol-Intermediary technique for dried herbs
(From “Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies” by Maria Noel Groves)
Grind herb coarsely and weigh it on a kitchen scale. Choose the size of the jar based on the amount of herb:
1 ounce of herb 8-ounce jar
2 ounces of herb 16-ounce jar
3-4 ounces of herb Quart jar
Add 1/2 ounce of 100- to 190-proof alcohol (vodka works best because it is odorless) for every ounce of herb and stir or shake to mix it thoroughly with the herb. Cover tightly and let sit for about a day.
Pour the prepped herb in a blender or food processor and add 7 ounces of oil (see the carrier oil choices at the end of the article) for every ounce of herb. Blend for about 5 minutes.
Straining herb-infused oil
Step Four: Strain Oil
Place a strainer over a measuring cup. Make sure the measuring cup is large enough for the amount of oil you are going to strain. Line the strainer with a square of muslin or a coffee filter. This allows the tiniest speck of herb to be strained out of the oil. It will take an hour or longer for the oil to strain, so get comfortable. After all the oil has been strained, pick up the muslin or coffee filter and squeeze out the last little bit of oil. (Have a hand towel ready—your hands will get oily!)
Step Five: Store the Oil
Pour the strained oil into a clean glass jar. Label the jar with the type of oil and date, cover it tightly, and store in a cool, dark place. The cooler the temperature, the longer the oil will keep. Dried herb oils can keep for a year or two. Fresh herb oils will last several months to a year.
Dried herb purchasing information: Purchase from local organic sellers first, then look to the Internet. Raven Moon Emporium (https://ravenmoonemporium.com/) and The Grower’s Exchange (https://thegrowers-exchange.com/) are two online producers that I have used.
Carrier oils: Good skin oils readily available from your local store include avocado oil, fractionated coconut oil (that is an oil at room temperature rather than a solid), olive oil, and sunflower oil. If ordering online, the best oil for your skin is Jojoba, which closely resembles your own skin’s natural oil and is readily absorbed. Apricot oil and grapeseed oil are also good choices. Coconut oil, jojoba oil, and olive oil have indefinite shelf lives, so are preferred for long-term uses. I avoid almond oil because of the California almond industry’s misuse of water resources.
